bdtoday.net: The Sohel Taj melodrama

Columnists

Abdul Mannan
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The Sohel Taj melodrama

27 April 2012, Friday

In
a quick succession the general people have witnessed few blockbuster
melodramas in the country’s politics. First came the Railway Gate scam
involving the former Railway Minister Suranjit Sen Gupta and the
mysterious treasure sack of seven million (?) taka followed by the
resignation of the minister from his post to be followed by his
reappointment by the Prime Minister even before the elapse of twenty
four hours drawing flak from all quarters. This followed the bizarre
disappearance of Iliyas Ali, the Organizing Secretary of the BNP and his
driver. Though the disappearance is a highly condemnable offense the
people are bewildered by the hyper reaction shown by the leaders of BNP
to this issue, though earlier quite a few friends and opponents of
Iliyas Ali also disappeared from Bishwanath in Sylhet. BNP has already
completed a three -day hartal programme and vowed to go for tougher
movement from Sunday if Ilyas Ali is not returned by Saturday. Many
civil society and political party members and government ministers and
high officials of the law enforcing agencies have already visited Iliyas
Ali’s residence to express their sympathy to the family. All the media
including the internet blogs are full of Iliyas Ali episode and
countless theories and assumptions abound over the sudden disappearance
of this ‘important’ leader. None can disagree that Iliyas Ali should be
returned to his family immediately notwithstanding the fact of his dark
past while he was a student leader at Dhaka University. The side kick in
the ongoing Iliyas Ali episode was enacted by Bangabir Kader Siddiqui,
BU, when he visited the BNP office at Naya Paltan to meet the BNP
leaders on April 24. On his way some of his followers were detained by
the police and to press for their release he lay flat on the street.
Once they were released he offered a ‘Shokrana Namaj’ right there. All
seemed so comical, coming from no less than a person like our own
Bangabir.

The last melodrama unfolded when Awami League law maker
Sohel Taj the only son of late Tajuddin Ahmed, one of our liberation
war hero and the first Prime Minister of Bangladesh decided to resign
from his post as a parliament member. Earlier, on May 31, 2009, about
five months after he was inducted in Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet as the
State Minister for Home he resigned from his ministerial post to the
embarrassment of the party and the Prime Minster. As the reason for his
resignation was never made public many rumours were in circulation. At
least one of them involving a powerful Presidium Member of Awami League
has to some extent gained public acceptance. Whatever was the reason for
his resignation it should have been taken care of by the party bosses.
He was the youngest minister in the new cabinet and it was expected
that he will be the role model of the new generation of politicians. It
was also hoped that he will usher in an era of new brand of politics in
this country. Unfortunately he miserably failed and let down the Prime
Minster who is known to have loved him like her own son and wanted him
to behave accordingly. Understandably Sohel Taj got carried away by
emotion but in politics emotion needs to be kept under control as his
late father did on many occasions. On July 24, 2009 I wrote on the issue
of Sohel Taj’s resignation from the cabinet and criticized his decision
and political immaturity. Being the son of Tajuddin he was special to
most of the people in the country who saw the potential of having the
rebirth of Tajuddin in Sohel Taj. But he disappointed everyone. Sohel
Taj perhaps is the only example since 1947 (at least in Pakistan and
Bangladesh) who has resigned from the parliament. In 1974 when the
Fourth Amendment was adopted in the parliament few members lost their
seat, notable amongst them were General (Retd) Osmani, Barrister Moinul
Hossain, Nur-e-Alam Siddiqui because they refused to join the BAKSAL as
required by the amendment. In 1994, 145 members of the parliament
resigned en-masse to press home their demand to hold a fresh election
under a neutral care taker government. That was a political ploy of all
the participating parties and not any individual decision.

I met
Sohel Taj once during the last Four -Party alliance government in a
seminar organized by Awami League at the National Press Club where I was
one of the speakers and Sheikh Hasina was the Chief Guest. Once the
seminar was over Sohel came to us and very politely asked the Chief
Guest, if she wins the next election, will she try the war criminals? To
this Sheikh Hasina replied that of course that will be at the top of
her agenda. Now the same Sohel Taj resigned even from parliament when
there is a national and international conspiracy to thwart the trial of
those arrested for committing crimes against humanity and war crimes in
1971. Sometimes we can only pity Sheikh Hasina as she often trusts and
puts her bets on the wrong people. Everyday I pass the former residence
of late Tajuddin, where now an apartment cum shopping centre is being
built. I pass the mango tree on the road which it is believed late
Tajuddin himself planted. I often stop by to pay respect to late
Tajuddin Ahmed. From now on maybe I will have to say sorry Mr. Tajuddin,
we failed to see your rebirth in your son.

Soon after the birth
of Bangladesh the conspirators were able to drive a wedge between the
relationship of Bangabandhu and Tajuddin. Removing Tajuddin from the
post of Prime Minister’s post Bangabandhu himself became the Prime
Minister while Tajuddin was given the portfolio of Finance and Planning.
Tajuddin always dreamt of an economically self reliant Bangladesh and
was totally against taking any sort of financial assistance from US,
World Bank and IMF. He could never forget the role of US during our War
of Liberation. Henry Kissinger the then US Secretary of State was soon
to visit Bangladesh. Bangabandhu, as lion hearted he was, had a stated
policy of love towards all and malice towards none. Kissinger would like
to discuss with the Finance Minister to assess the economic need of
Bangladesh but Tajuddin was averse to meeting Kissinger. Bangabandhu
could appreciate the position of Tajuddin and he requested him to step
down from the post of the Finance and Planning Minister which Tajuddin
readily did. But Tajuddin never resigned from the parliament and tried
to remain by the side of Bangabandhu till the last day as his trusted
lieutenant though the conspirators by this time drove the wedge further
deep to move both the leaders apart. Begum Zohra Tajuddin, wife of late
Tajuddin is a remarkable lady and held the helm of Awami League in very
difficult times when Bangabandhu and the four national leaders,
including her husband were killed and Sheikh Hasina was living in exile.
Though Begum Tajuddin has not been in good health lately she was made
the number one Presidium Member of the party. Sheikh Hasina also tried
to keep all the family members of the four national leaders besides her
as her own family members, gave them important political posts. None
except Sohel Taj let her down so badly.

Sohel Taj not only sent a
letter of resignation to the Speaker of the parliament but also made
public a three page open letter explaining his position leading to his
resignation. He declared that he will be with Awami League till the last
and be with the people of Kapashia and Gazipur, his and his late
father’s constituency. Sohel Taj grew up in US and had his education
there. He is married to an American and works for a multinational
company. From the beginning (except the first five months) he was an
absentee MP. Otherwise a very decent person he failed completely to
understand the political chemistry of Bangladesh. I am not sure if he is
aware of how his illustrious father built his enviable political career
and the sacrifices he made. Unfortunately Sohel Taj did not have to go
through all these and like many of his generation was transplanted into
politics. Sheikh Hasina perhaps made a very costly mistake. She has made
many similar mistakes in her political life and often paid a heavy
price. The famous British Broadcaster David Frost once asked Bangabandhu
what are your strong points? Bangabandhu answered ‘I love my people’.
Then he was asked what are your weak points and in his answer he said ‘I
love them too much.’ In his daughter’s case perhaps one will have to
substitute ‘trust’ in place of ‘love.’

Unfortunately for Awami
League historically the party has been more damaged by the people inside
than their opponents. The legacy still continues and the party keeps on
paying dearly. The Sohel Taj episode is not the last but must be
considered as one of many in the series. Hope the Awami League
leadership and the policy makers will learn a lesson out of the Sohel
Taj melodrama. I feel sorry for the people of Kapashi and Gazipur, who
had so much faith and trust in Sohel Taj, the son of one of their
illustrious son who unfortunately opted for a better life in the land of
opportunity, the US. Good Luck Sohel Taj. People will perhaps remember
the father longer than the son.

The writer is a former Vice-chancellor, Chittagong University. Currently he teaches at ULAB, Dhaka.

Source: The Daily Sun, 28/04/2012